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Polk County officials said the white Pontiac Grand Am belonged to West, a missing woman from Oskaloosa.

Marcy Emehiser, West’s sister-in-law, said the family has identified the body as West on Friday.

Crews were called to an area near a bridge on Highway 141 north of Grimes, where the car was spotted partially-submerged in Little Beaver Creek.

A deputy discovered that car at 9:24 a.m. Friday. Officials had been searching for the car after receiving a complaint about erratic driving. They pulled the car from the ice-covered creek around noon.

“It was on all four tires and it was submerged all the way up to the bottom of the driver’s door,” said Brandon Bracelin of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.

West was expected in Ankeny on Monday morning, but never arrived. Her vehicle was described as a 2002 white Pontiac Grand Am with license plate AZZ 092.

On Monday at 1:05 p.m., Polk County authorities received a complaint of a vehicle matching that description driving erratically near the intersection of Highway 141 and Highway 44.

Officers responding to that call were unable to find the vehicle.

It is not immediately known how long the car was in the water, but officials said snow found on top of the car indicates that the car has been there since before Wednesday. The car suffered significant damage to the rear.

Officials said they are investigating how the car ended up off the highway and into the creek.

“We have our accident investigator working on the cause of the accident and the circumstances that led up to that,” Bracelin said. “We have our detectives out here as well checking around the area.”